For patients with laryngeal cancer, rehabilitation following laryngectomy may be difficult. However, significant variability in coping skills and adaptation of this patient population exists. Healthcare providers commonly perceive disfigurement, alteration in function (i.e., loss of natural voice), and disease control as the most relevant issues in the postoperative period, yet patients and the...

BACKGROUND Pharyngocutaneous fistula (PCF) is a common and challenging complication of laryngectomy. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the results of endoscopic repair of postlaryngectomy PCF. METHODS Five patients who underwent salvage laryngectomy complicated by PCF underwent endoscopic repair at a regional medical center between 2006 and 2013. Data were compiled through a manual ch...

BACKGROUND The objective of this study was to report the incidence of postoperative complications for partial laryngectomy and to identify patient- and tumor-related factors predictive of postoperative complications. METHODS A total of 150 patients who had a partial laryngectomy were identified from an existing database of 662 patients treated for squamous cell carcinoma of the larynx from 19...

AIMS The purpose of this paper was to investigate the impact of Methicillin Resistant Staphylococcus Aureus (MRSA) infection in the aetiology of pharyngo-cutaneous fistula (PCF) formation following total laryngectomy for advanced laryngeal cancer. METHODS This was a retrospective uncontrolled case study series of 31 consecutive patients based in a single institution tertiary referral head and...

BACKGROUND The purpose of this study was to assess the factors influencing swallowing and phonatory results after partial laryngectomy. METHODS We carried out a medical chart review of patients who underwent partial laryngectomies between June 2003 and November 2010, focusing on functional outcomes. RESULTS Thirty-two patients were enrolled. No statistically significant difference was found...

BACKGROUND The purpose of this study was to assess the utility of the pectoralis major muscle flap (PMMF) in the prevention of pharyngocutaneous fistula for total laryngectomy after radiotherapy (RT) METHODS: We conducted a retrospective review of 166 patients who underwent a total laryngectomy after RT between 1998 and 2012 at the CHU de Québec. RESULTS One hundred fifteen patients underwent...

OBJECTIVES To determine whether postoperative complication rates and speech outcomes differ between patients undergoing primary versus secondary tracheoesophageal puncture following total laryngectomy with free flap reconstruction. STUDY DESIGN Retrospective clinical study in a tertiary academic center. METHODS Between November 2004 and June 2010, 137 patients underwent total laryngectomy o...

OBJECTIVE To evaluate our experience in management of radiotherapy failure using endoscopic resection (ER) with carbon dioxide laser, open-neck partial laryngectomy (ONPL), and total laryngectomy. DESIGN Retrospective medical record review. SETTING Referral university hospital. PATIENTS Seventy-one patients with laryngeal cancer previously treated with radiotherapy (69 patients) and chemo...

OBJECTIVES The time to begin oral feeding after total laryngectomy remains a subject of debate among head and neck surgeons. The prevailing assumption is that early initiation of oral feeding may cause pharyngocutaneous fistula; thus, the common practice of initiating oral feeding after a period of 7 to 10 days. The objective of the study was to demonstrate the feasibility and safety of oral fe...

evaluation of voice quality parameters of esophageal speech in different neoglottis forms after total laryngectomy. methods: presentation of voice analysis of 20 patients, who underwent total laryngectomy. the success of acquiring this technique was estimated by means of a voice analyzing program (pitch, sound-holding, loudness, spectrogram), and by the intelligibility via the telephone. shape ...